Advanced Placements or Academic Probation?

Jerald Ooi

The clock indicated 1 pm. His calendar displayed May 7. The questions on his paper numbered forty-five. The student was lost. Months of preparation had led him to this moment as he anxiously tapped his pencil against the desk. Countless explanations and possible answers danced in his head as he began a process of elimination to determine the best possible answer.

“It has to be this answer,” he thought, as his brain finally narrowed down answers to a selected few. 

The clock now indicated 1:40 pm. The question on his paper numbered one. However, something was different. Not multiple choice, but free response. Stumped, our student took some time to stare at the ceiling as he beckoned the dusty corners of his mind to come alive and grant him the answers of his desires.

The clock indicated 9 pm. His calendar displayed May 6. The tablet that lay before him had a Google search bar with the words “how to pass an AP without passing the test” typed out. APs, or Advanced Placement, the bane of many that induce far more sorrow than joy. A course dictated by a single standardized test at the end of it, that, despite an academic score of one-hundred in the class, can end up meaning failure without a score of three or higher on the test. At this point, one might ask, “Why do people even take this course then?”

Well, the answer is simple. Despite the seemingly depressing predicament, it puts students in, AP’s can be defined as a high risk - high reward situation that puts one at a much higher caliber than the average student, considering that a favorable result is attained.

“Take AP’s if you need it for something in the future. Don’t be like me and take courses you don’t need,” said Elynn Tan (12) when asked about choosing an AP course. One has to be careful when picking an AP course. If a person strives to be a chef in the future, AP Calculus isn’t the best choice for that person to take. Still, there will always be that one exemplary student who decides to take on almost every AP a school has to offer. It is quite interesting, to say the least.

We now go back to our student as he sits in his room, pondering on what he should in preparation for his exams tomorrow. It is then that Mr. Yost’s voice from earlier in the day rings out in his head. “Don’t study tonight and overwork yourself. Getting a good night’s sleep is the best preparation you can make for tomorrow.”

And with that, our student puts down his tablet and jumps to bed, pushing aside all his worries, because he knows that he has had sufficient preparation throughout the school year for the AP test tomorrow.